by Fern Shaw | Feb 18, 2015 | Water, water cooler
So it started like this … (I’m tempted to say ‘and that’s how the fight started’) … but that wouldn’t be correct. Or true.
It wasn’t a fight. What it was was the seemingly endless discussion about whether to go camping or to not go camping.
Whether camping was simply the best, cheapest way of getting away from it all or just some centuries’ old nomadic instinct from our predecessors which insists that you lug your household around to shivery destinations, I’m not quite sure.
The facts are you get 2 very different camps (ha!) when it comes to camping.
As you may have gathered, I fall into the no-camping-are-you-insane category.
I will relate just one story to you and perhaps you’ll understand why.
I went camping alongside a river with a boyfriend. It was an impromptu, rash decision fuelled by copious amounts of liquor the day before we ventured out. Due to work constraints, we arrived at the self-designated campsite after dark and parked on the sand at the river’s edge. Dinner was to be a potjie (or stew) which is traditionally made using water, seasoning, vegetables and a meat, no packet sauces or any other cheats aloud. Slight problem was we had no water. The river water was pretty churny and brown and we weren’t taking any chances. We proceeded to use the red wine we’d brought with us as the liquid base for the potjie. Only problem here was that the intense heat from the cooking fire meant that the liquid burnt off pretty quickly. Suffice to say that we ended up some hours later (the whole idea of a potjie is that it takes hours to cook (the originator of the popular ‘slow cooking’ that’s all the rage nowadays?) with half cooked, half singed meat, crunchy vegetables and no wine. It didn’t help that we were ravenous!
The camping didn’t get much better post dinner either. A friend, who ran river rafting expeditions from where we were camped, decided to creep up on us wearing a ski mask. With the sound of the river rushing by us didn’t hear him until he leapt out from the river bank – all 6ft.2 of him – and screamed at us. The following morning, deciding to depart from our rather ill-fated excursion, we discovered that the van that we’d driven in had sunk down into the soft, damp river sand and was stuck. An hour later armed with much choice language and two planks, we finally managed to extricate ourselves and head off back to civilisation. No-one could have been more relieved than I was.
I have since then had the occasional pleasant camping trip, but whenever the 2 camps set up (ha!) around the water cooler and tales of for and against start up, I’m sure this story has swayed more than a few undecided. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
by Fern Shaw | Feb 16, 2015 | water cooler
In case you were thinking that fidelity only applies to us humanoids, think again. All of these water loving/living creatures pretty much mate for life:
- ALBATROSS – Other bird species can boast about their monogamous relationships, but albatross display a unique patience and persistence when it comes to stoking the flames of romance. Young albatrosses learn from older birds how to woo their mates using an elaborate system of preening, pointing, rattling, bowing and other sweet dance moves. After they learn advanced wooing, albatrosses may ‘dance’ with many partners until they find the right one – but once they select that perfect mate, they’re boos for life.
- BEAVERS – Beavers stay together for the kids. Not only are these loyal creatures faithful to their mates, but they’re also devoted parents. Dads don’t just go off to build dams and whatnot while moms stay at home raising the kits; both male and female beavers take an active hand in bringing up their offspring. And once those kits reach about 2 years of age, they go off to find true love of their own, and the beautiful cycle of monogamous beaver love continues. And, yes, baby beavers are called kits. That in itself is a cuteness overload.
- FRENCH ANGELFISH – French angelfish make such perfect couples that it would embarrass most humans. Not only do these fish stay with their mates until death, but they spend fully half of their time swimming side by side. Not only that, but when French angelfish couples come together again after time apart, they engage in what’s called “carouseling,” circling round and round each other. When was the last time you and your other half were so happy to see each other that you both literally spun around in the pure bliss of being together?
- PENGUINS – Penguins are often cited for their monogamy, but as cute as it is to imagine the same pair of penguins waddling around flipper-in-flipper for eternity, the truth is that they are only serially monogamous, which means pairs usually stay together for one breeding season at a time. Exceptions to this are not uncommon, however, and some pairs are known to seek each other out again and again over many seasons. In fact, a particularly devoted couple of Magellanic penguins tracked by scientists have been observed to return to each other every season for 16 years, and are still going strong. Now that’s love.
- SEAHORSES – If albatross relationships are reminiscent of fairy-tale romance, seahorses might be considered the swingers of the sea. Many seahorse species will bond with a mate, but that bond often lasts only through a single breeding season or until a more attractive female comes along. But, monogamy in this case is useful since it can be hard to find fellow seahorses due to poor swimming skills and low densities. There is evidence that the longer that partners are together, the more successful at breeding they become and the two are able to produce more offspring per brood. One species of seahorse does appear to stick with a single mate for life: the Australian Hippocampus whitei. Practice makes perfect!
- SWANS – Swans are often used as a symbol of romance. First of all, they do that adorable thing where they crane their heads together, their graceful necks creating a heart shape. It’s perfect for greeting cards. On top of that, swans are famously monogamous. How sweet! They really love each other. But only to a point, it turns out. Newer research shows that ‘divorce’ can sometimes split up longstanding swan couples. Evidence suggests that the reason behind such events is that a couple may find themselves unable to breed with each other any longer. It’s not a fairy tale, but sometimes practical matters trump true love. Happily, swans are mature, and divorced couples may still live closely and cordially with each other, even with their new partners.
So there’ll be no more of using the excuse of ‘animals don’t mate for life’ for a lot of you fidelity challenged – you’d better, in the words of Nat King Cole, ‘Straighten up and fly right, Straighten up and stay right …’ Of course, if none of this applies, you can always amaze and wow your mates at the water cooler with your knowledge or; for huge brownie points, your Valentine? ♥
by Fern Shaw | Feb 14, 2015 | Charity, Health and Hydration, Water
In this month of love (being February) I can hear the howls of protest from many an individual as they scarper to warmer climes, (or just anywhere else) to avoid participating in Valentine’s Day.
I have my own personal rules regarding the day in question – I call it Anti-Valentine’s – but that’s for another story and those of you with a stronger constitution than most.
To change perspective a little, I skipped along the web looking for romantic tales/rituals involving water, splashing merrily as I do. I found some truly lovely practices and rituals, but the nicest, by far, was sent to me by our co-ordinator extraordinaire, Michelle. As we‘re very invested in charities, as with The Africa Trust, which provides safe drinking water to people throughout Africa, I thought that this was quite fitting:-
It’s a folk tale from Kenya called The Fire on the Hill:
Long, long ago, there was a lake of cold water in Kenya. Many animals came at night to the lake to drink some water. But people never came to the lake at night. The animals could kill and eat them. Now, a rich man who had a beautiful daughter once said, “The young man, who will go to the lake in the evening and stay in the cold water till morning, will have my daughter for his wife.”
There lived a poor young man who loved the rich man’s daughter very much. He said to his mother, “I shall try to stay all night in the lake and then marry my dear girl.”
“No, No,” the mother said, “you are my only son! The water in the lake is very cold and the animals will eat you up. Don’t go there!”
She cried and cried. But her son said, “Mother, don’t cry. I must try. I love her so much!” So the young man went to the girl’s father. He told him that he wanted to go to the lake and stay in the cold water all night. The rich man sent his servants to a place where they could watch the young man.
When night came, the young man went to the lake and his mother followed him. But he did not see her. There was a hill forty paces away from the place where the young man went into the water. The woman climbed up the hill and made a fire there. The wild animals saw the fire and were afraid to go near that place.
The young man saw the fire, too. He understood that his mother was there. He thought of his mother’s love and it was easier for him to stay all night in the very cold water. Morning came. The young man went to the rich man’s house. The rich man saw him and said, “My servants say that there was a fire on a hill forty paces from the lake. It warmed you and that is why you could stay all night in the water. So you cannot marry my daughter. Good-bye.”
The young man was very angry. He went to the judge. “Well,” the judge said, “this is a very simple case.”
The next morning the young man with his mother and the rich man with his servants came before the Judge. There were many people there who wanted to hear the case. The judge asked for a pot of cold water. Then he walked forty paces from the pot and made a fire.
“Now,” he said, “we shall wait a little until the water is warm.”
The people cried, “But the fire is so far away, it cannot warm the water in the pot.”
Then the judge said, “And how could that young man warm himself at a fire forty paces away?”
So the case was over and the young man married the rich man’s daughter. They lived happily for many years.
Now I’m sure your swain is not expecting you to take a dip in an icy pond at the common to prove their worth this February, but as far as grand romantic gestures go, this is pretty impressive. Think about it before you go off and spend your hard earned dosh on some screaming pink, polyester-haired teddy.
by Fern Shaw | Jan 9, 2015 | Water, water cooler
Strange title I know. You’re forgetting my freedom of association powers – ooowee ooowee – again, more fool you.
I initially looked up bubbles, but came across information about water blisters on feet and hands, which are called dyshidrotic eczema, which coloured me surprised – I’m not into all the medical terminology stuff – so I catalogued it under ‘ew topics’.
Anyhow, I looked a little further and established that blisters are not really filled with water but with serum or plasma, as says Wiki:
A blister is a small pocket of fluid within the upper layers of the skin, typically caused by forceful rubbing (friction), burning, freezing, chemical exposure or infection. Most blisters are filled with a clear fluid called serum or plasma.
It gets more revolting after that, mentioning blood blisters and worse, but me, not having the strongest stomach, I zoned out immediately. As I said – ew.
But what about bubbles? What makes a bubble … um … bubble?
I had this idea that finding out about bubbles would make for some light reading and none of this scientific argy bargy – boy, was I ever wrong. Good heavens, its all equations and algebra and weird symbols – not at all what I thought.
I did learn a new word (WORD) though.
Entrain: to draw in and transport (as solid particles or gas) by the flow of a fluid.
To draw along with or after oneself. See below:
In simple speak, a bubble forms for a variety of reasons, essentially; the bubbles form as air is entrained in the water during the pouring process. The key factor here is how fast the bubbles collapse. This may seem a funny distinction, but bubbles are always thermodynamically unstable compared to the bulk liquid because it always costs energy to create them. The only reason we see long lived bubbles is that there is a kinetic barrier that stops the water films collapsing.
I hope that this has eddicated you all a bit. As for me, I think I’m just going to go back to blowing bubbles or making bubbles in the bottled water cooler when I gloomph it or, using bubble bath or …. drinking bubbly … yes, that sounds more like my world.
Blogista Fern out. Word.
by Fern Shaw | Jan 1, 2015 | Health and Hydration, water cooler, Water Coolers
I personally don’t ‘do’ New Year’s resolutions. Why not, you ask? Well, think about it: you put yourself under inordinate amounts of stress (which kind of puts paid to resolutions like, ‘I won’t stress as much’) which pretty much sets the pace for the rest of the year, which means that your resolution typifies the identical behaviour for the previous year. Make sense? It should.
Just in case you misguidedly decide on making New Year’s resolutions, please, Louise, try to make them original – none of this ‘I’m going on diet’ nonsense. ‘Drink more water’ should now, of course, be a given, so none of that as a special effort either!
To get you going I found a few which made me snort with laughter:
*I will find out why the correspondence course on ‘Mail Fraud’ that I purchased never showed up.
*Eat more nice things like sweets, Big Macs, popcorn and ice cream. Eat less rubbish like fresh fruit, vegetables and soy nuts.
*New Years Resolution: do a series of jazz-flute instructional tapes. Maybe I’ll call it “Ron Burgundy: A Jazz Flute-orial.” ~ Ron Burgundy
*My New Year resolution is: 1024 by 968 pixels!
*Learn what the heck “resolution” means.
*Learn more resolve.
*My New Year’s resolution is to be less prefect ~ Jim Gaffigan
and my personal favourite:
*My New Year’s resolutions are:
- Stop making lists
- Be more consistent.
- Learn to count.
However you choose to ring in the New Year, may we wish you a healthy, happy and prosperous year ahead.
